


I bought tacos (and an apartment)

by InterPlanetaryGirl



Category: Deadpool - All Media Types, Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Agender Peter, Because biologically peter is a girl called penny, But she identifies as agender with she/them pronouns, Cute, F/M, Female Peter, Fluff, Identity Reveal, Living Together, Sweet, but also kinda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-05
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-15 05:35:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10550944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InterPlanetaryGirl/pseuds/InterPlanetaryGirl
Summary: “So...I have a confession,” he begins. “And I brought tacos to make up for it.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> So usually I do not write one-say gender bends at all bc I find it mildly offensive and heteronormative, however once I got this in my head I couldn't get it out and I then wanted to have my gender identity in there in this way and it's only brief mentionings of it really but still ((also the tags effed up and I can't fix it-- I've tried like 3 times))

Deadpool and Spiderman had been...working together, to put it loosely, for about three and a half years when Deadpool became interested in who Spiderman _really_ was. Behind the mask, that was. So he did investigating, and stalked Spiderman outside of costume for two weeks, trying to make sure what he was seeing was in fact true.

 But it was.

 Spiderman wasn't Spider _man_.

 Spiderman was Penny May Parker, 21-year-old biochemistry student who was barely making it between student debt (that was accumulating quickly), a job working for The Bugle taking pictures of her alter-ego mostly, and other bills she could only just handle on the best of days if she limited her food intake and relied on Wade for most of her unhealthy diet. Obviously nobody suspects her to be doing the whole, taking pictures of her male alter-ego, but it's no wonder she got such good shots when she set everything up exactly as she needed it to be.

 Deadpool had to go out on a job for just over a week and make sure that what he'd found out before was true, because he didn't believe his eyes.

 He didn't like what he was seeing, either, because of where she lived and _how_ she did, too. He saw her, all five foot six of her, and has the urge to wrap her in a blanket to keep warm, safe, and away from the world.

 That's not to say she can't take care of herself, because she obviously can, has proved it on many occasions as Spiderman and kicked him from buildings on three different days. One of those was accidentally, but still. So she can take care of herself, but he feels a little bad for how she's living, because he knows she isn't going to be paid for being the amazing superhero/vigilante she is unless she works for SHIELD and she's already told him she doesn't feel comfortable with that idea.

 With them knowing her identity.

 Which, now he knows why, kinda, but still.

 And he knows he has more money than he knows what to do with it, aside from guns and ammo, (obviously) so he wants to help her out. A little. Not that she would outright accept the charity, he knows, so he (and the boxes) write down a list of convincing arguments, hopefully, of them buying a place to live together in.

 He has no idea how she'll take to it, but he's hoping well. After at least an hour of reasoning.

 Which is how he finds himself climbing up the side of their most regular building with a bag of tacos in his mouth from her favourite place along with the list of reasons in one of his many pouches.

* * *

  
Penny knew as soon as Deadpool was near, just because of the obscene noises and grunts coming from his mouth. Her spidey-sense stopped going off around him nine months ago, but she still doesn't trust him enough to _tell_ him her identity. What if he respects her less because of it? Sure, she knows he doesn't really give a damn about gender roles and he's demonstrated it by wearing dresses over his suit on several occasions (which she can't really deny make her flustered because she automatically imagines him with only a dress and no suit).

 However, she also knows that he suspects something, and she knew he was spying on her at least once in the past five months. But he never brought it up, so she figured he didn't know or didn't care enough to bring it up.

 It only took another minute before he was walking over to her and sitting down, dropping the bag of tacos on her lap before laying backwards with a huff.

 “So...I have a confession,” he begins. “And I brought tacos to make up for it.”

 Penny sighs. Of course. She knew he would bring it up eventually, but right now? Unhelpful.

 “But I also have a question.” Penny’s interest is piqued slightly, so she motions for him to continue as she lifts the bottom half of her mask and begins eating- she's hungry, okay, all she's eaten was a banana for breakfast this morning.

 “I may have spied on you and followed you everywhere for two weeks straight and found out everything about you including your national security number,” he tells her and she sighs, turning to him with a blank look in her eyes which she hopes translated through the mask.

 “Of course you did, because knowing my civilian identity just wasn't enough,” she says drily, not bothering to conceal her voice anymore. Not that she was good at that in the first place.

 “I know, I know it's bad, but I have several questions and then a request-slash-question.”

 “I thought you had one question?” She raises her eyebrow under the mask before continuing to eat.

 “Well mostly they're to do with why little Miss Penny-pie Parker hid her identity and gender, and the last thing I have arguments set up for as to why you should do it,” he explains, fishing in his pouch for the paper and list to show it to her proudly and she smiles slightly at his enthusiasm to do it, swallowing her mouthful before speaking.

 “Who would take me seriously as a superhero if I was a girl?” Penny asks simply. “There aren't many well-known female superheroes, and even if they are, they aren't taken seriously. I mean, there's Black Widow and she's a pretty cool role model, but people are afraid of her and respect her because they know she could snap their neck in a blink of an eye and not bat an eyelash. She may feel a little guilty over it but she also knows what she's done in the past y'know? She knows that she'll have done worse for less previously so she doesn't let it weigh on her conscience as much.”

 “Plus, there's also the lack of representation in the media, like no toys or movies, you wouldn't have gotten your third reboot if you were known as a girl - probably. I mean, they delayed the Black Widow movie. It's cool that they're doing Black Panther but they put off Black Widow. That's just-” Deadpool cuts off his own rambling with a dramatic sigh. Penny smiles at him slightly, not knowing what he's talking about really but it's normal and she likes when he talks about things she has no idea about. She's long-since stopped telling him she has no idea what he's talking about. “Okay, I guess I can see what you mean,” he relents.

 “Besides,” she continues. “I don't identify _as a girl_. Sure, I present myself as female on a day-to-day basis almost every day, but I identify as agender. I wear my binders every so often during the day too. Yes, I use female pronouns, but I like gender-neutral ones too, they make me feel kinda fuzzy inside,” she giggles slightly as the feeling appears at validating her own gender.

 “That's totally cool how you wanna identify dollface,” Wade assures her.

 “Anyway you have a request for me?” Penny moves along.

 “Yeah…”

 “Well?”

 “I want you to...move in with me?” Deadpool phrases it like a question, and a slight cringe can be seen through his mask.

 “What?” Penny asks, mouth hanging open slightly despite the food still in it.

 “I want you to move in with me- for several reasons!” Deadpool - Wade, she guesses she should call him - makes to point out, brandishing his list with a flourish. “Reason number one: you live in one of the worst parts of the city, and I get that it's because you're a broke college student and all, but once I _found out_ where you lived, I don't like the idea of you living there even if you had still been a dude and even though I _know_ you can take care of yourself, you shouldn't be living like that. Plus I know most of your neighbours are drug dealers or have committed some kind of crime within the last year.” Penny just gives him a look and sighs, motioning for him to continue once more as she begins eating her fourth taco and ignoring the slight cramps she's getting in her stomach from eating so much food after eating nothing all day.

 

* * *

 

“Reason number two!” Wade continued confidentially, even more since not being immediately shut down. “You can keep a better eye on me so I don't do as many bad things or unalive as many people, even though I'm doing pretty well lately.”

 [Is she actually listening to us?] White questions.

 {Could just be because we brought her food?} Yellow mentions.

 “Shush,” he tells them out loud, but quietly. “I'm talking so be nice. And so is she, so she'll probably listen anyway,” he shrugs slightly before continuing to Penny once more. “Reason three: I have more money than I know what to do with and I couldn't maintain a stable home on my own so I don't even try-” Penny scoffs at that, and admittedly she's right, because she's seen their place.

 [Are we implying that we want her to be a housewife for us?]

 {Change tactics! We don't wanna insult her!}

 “Which means with your help and encouragement I could probably do it? It's not like I can die but I keep making money so it's a lot of money I don't know what to do with,” Wade continues. “Number four-”

 “Okay I get it,” Penny says, holding up a hand to stop him.

 {Did we insult her too much? I didn't mean to!}

  _It's fine, chill, we're cool as ice,_ Wade thinks to Yellow, though admittedly he's nervous himself.

 “I'm not going to agree straight away. There will be a long conversation if - _if_ \- I agree Wade, so give me up to two weeks before I come to the decision,” Penny tells him, right before sirens are heard in the distance and her head whips in their direction. “I'm gonna go,” she says quickly, putting the remaining two tacos down beside her and looking at them sadly before standing to swing off.

 “Byeeeee Spidey!” Wade calls after her, happy feeling in his chest as he stands and stretches. “I think that went well,” he says to the boxes.

 [Well she didn't immediately reject us and the idea if that's what you mean.]

 {Which is a good thing! She'll totally agree to it!}

 

* * *

 

Forty minutes later when she returned to the spot, Penny found it empty aside from a fresh bag of tacos and a hot chocolate, mostly cool but still not horrible to drink.

 It was easy to come to her decision, ultimately, because she knew it was something she couldn't pass up. Even if Wade was basically asking to be her Sugar Daddy, (and wasn't that a nice thought for her to have) she had already liked him before he offered, and it would mean they properly get to know each other. Plus it was basically guaranteed shelter and utilities for as long as they live together which would be...really nice. She would only have to worry about food, probably, because she wasn't going into this not providing something for _their_ house.

 Not to mention that in the past week she had noticed a new mould growth from the damp leaking from the above apartment, the water had has been on the blink on two separate occasions, and there was a draught she couldn't locate but came directly onto her bed at night.

 Not to mention the amount of drugs she could smell - she got one of the guys in her building arrested too, after she caught him as Spiderman trying to rob somebody's apartment (in their same building….).

 So when she was a week from her self-set deadline, she made sure to find Deadpool as he was jumping from building to building, occasionally screaming “PARKOUR!” because that's just what he does on a regular basis, as many times as she's tried to get him to stop. It's actually funny to watch, especially when he falls, harsh as that sounds. But just- the fact she can watch him scream “PARKOUR” as he jumps and then he misses the landing, and hits the side of the building and then falls, it's comical to hear the sounds he makes okay?

 Just as he's about to fall once more, she swings by and catches him, landing them onto the next roof safely as he begins to crow at her for saving him.

* * *

 She sighs before speaking. “I will take you up on your offer,” she tells him with effort, because part of her still doesn't want to accept what seems like charity, but she wants this more than she needs it, and it might be good for her to have regular contact with another person outside of superheroing and school.

{OMG! DID YOU HEAR THAT!!!}

 “-but,” Penny continues, “there will be rules and conditions and we will be having a very long conversation about this here and now.”

 [That's reasonable.]

 {DID YOU HEAR THAT SHE WANTS TO LIVE WITH US!!!}

 [She's a broke college student…]

  _Don't imply subtly that she's a prostitute. Not that there's anything wrong with prostitutes of course, but she has standards like most others and she won't just do this because we have money to provide. Though that probably helps._

 “I am totally cool and fine with that Penny-pie, anything you want,” he assures her, and she simply huffs at him before going to sit on the edge of the roof, pointedly looking at the space beside for him to join her as she takes her mask off and shakes out her hair.

 “You said you wanted to buy a place, yes?”

 “Yes,” he confirms.

 “Okay, and I'm fine with that - ish - but I will be paying for groceries and things like that including Netflix, got it? I'm not going to have you pay for everything.” He nods frantically at her serious tone. “Another thing, we will not be eating take-out and greasy food every single night. I will cook food for us most nights and if you want other food you can buy it, however _that_ food I won't be paying for.” Wade whines a little at that.

 {NO MEXICAN FOOD EVERY NIGHT?!?!?! HOW WILL WE LIVE?! HOW WILL _SHE_ LIVE?!} Yellow cries.

 [By eating normal, healthy food. Just because she has a metabolism that can go head-to-head with ours after we've come back, doesn't mean that she can't get heart disease. Probably.]

 {Okay….yeah, that makes sense.}

 “That's fine by me.” Wade confirms out loud. “Whatever you want.”

 “Okay. And since you said you're buying, that means we need a three-bedroomed apartment, because I refuse to allow your weapons all over the place and you've got too many to be kept in a closet, and we're not sharing a room,” she explains with a stern look.

 “Completely understood,” Wade told her as Yellow went wild inside his head.

 {She's thinking about our weapons? Holy Chimichanga she's perfect, where has she been our entire liiiife! I've missed her so much!!}

  _She probably just doesn't want to accidentally hurt herself or trip over them like she did last time she was at our place,_ Wade reminds Yellow.

 “Finally, you are not allowed to always wear the costume when you're with me. If we to get coffee or watch a movie or eat dinner, you aren't allowed to wear it when with me.” Penny's face is stern and serious.

 “What now?” Wade chokes out, wanting to know if he heard right.

 “You can't wear your costume unless you've had a job, are going to one, or we're on patrol.”

 “Babygirl, you would not want to always see what's under here, believe me,” he tells her gently with a laugh.

 “Do I look like I give a fuck? You've mentioned before it isn't always comfortable to wear when your skin is having a bad day and you can't expect me to believe that you'd wear it all the time at our _home_?” Penny asks incredulously.

 [She's going to regret that when the time comes] White sighs.

 “Okay, okay then,” he placates.

 “Great, then tomorrow we can meet up and discuss places, unless you've already picked out some?”

 “Well I've had some ideas but I mostly wanted to ask you first,” he shrugged and she nodded.

 “So we meet up for coffee tomorrow and discuss them?” Penny asked. “No costumes either,” she pointed a finger at Wade.

 [She's reeeeally going to regret this] White comments with a slight humour as Wade sighs.

 “Sure, but don't blame me if you run away and break this agreement,” Wade tells her.

* * *

 Penny smiles before pulling her mask back on and making sure her hair is tucked away securely.

 The rest of the night continued as normal, and Penny only jumped out of her skin a little when Wade out his arm around her shoulder and greeted her.

 “Jesus Wade,” she gasped, clutching at her chest. “Don't scare me like that,” she tells him before hitting his chest lightly as she turns to him. She's thankful he hasn't turned up in the Deadpool costume like she was afraid she might, but purses her lips at the hood pulled over a baseball cap despite the relatively sunny day. She doesn't say anything about it though, and she doesn't allow her eyes to linger on his scars.

 She wants to, not because they shock or scare her - she's seen the bottom of his mouth before and it's just an extension of that really - but because she wants to understand why he disliked them so much. Granted they could look better, but they could also look worse. In her opinion he just looked like a bad burn victim if she had to describe it. His jawline is still amazing, and his eyes are so blue.

 Instead she leads him to one of her favourite cafés, it's relatively modern, but has a nice vintage book store feel to it. It's cute, and they do food coffee, plus nobody will bother or stare at Wade like they may if they went somewhere like Starbucks.

 It's homey and comfortable, with a quiet atmosphere and few customers at the moment. Penny had just been to see JJ about her latest pictures of Spiderman and received her pay with a sigh. It wasn't a horrifyingly bad pay, she was just thankful she would be moving in with Wade.

 They sat beside one another as Wade went through the apartments he was suggesting, and Penny either agreed to see them or didn't. They were all in nice complexes, all to be bought, and all to be bought for at least four hundred and fifty thousand. The most expensive was 845k and every time the price got higher she made a sound in the back of her throat as her eyes went wider than before. Wade found it amusing and grinned at her every time.

 She agreed to see seven of the fifteen he suggested and Wade made appointments to see all of them the next day. He also went to the park with her as Penny took a walk through, snapping pictures as she went as she felt like it. She hasn't been set a specific event for another few weeks, but it was good to take pictures of things that weren't herself in costume.

 

* * *

Penny felt mildly uncomfortable as the estate agent scrutinised them, as though she could practically see the thoughts going through her head while Penny squirmed under her gaze and Wade just casually leaned on her shoulder. He was nine inches taller, including his sheer bulk made her dwarf in comparison and it was mildly comical from one point of view.

 Because they were walking a lot, Penny had opted for leggings and a large pink sweater with converse; it was only the start of spring and it was still quite cool, but if she got warm then she could roll her sleeves up. She kept a smile up the entire time, despite her clear discontent at doing her job for them. Penny tried to not let it bother her, but also couldn't help the need to punch her when she wrinkles her nose at Wade and wouldn't look him in the eye.

 Her patience was running out after the fourth apartment.

 Luckily they didn't need to spend much time looking at the sixth and seventh, because Penny was firmly set on the fifth one, located on in Oxford Avenue. All the apartments were fully furnished, this one included, but this one was more modern than the others, still managing to maintain the comfortable feel the others held as well.

 It was over seven hundred thousand, and Penny felt the air leave her lungs a little at the price when it was repeated to her, and she bit her lips but nodded at Wade when asked again. He was happy with any of them, all in all it didn't bother or affect him, so it was mostly Penny’s choice on this.

 Part of her still didn't feel comfortable with so much money being spent on her, even if she wouldn't be the only one living there. But another part of her wanted to feel the comfort and security of always having a nice, warm place to sleep, unlike her current apartment.

 Plus, it felt...sort of really amazing, knowing that Wade wants to make sure she's taken care of. Sure her aunt and uncle always did that when she was younger, and Aunt May continued to until she moved out, but this was world's apart from that because it was out of platonic - and a little romantic - love, not familial.

 They went back to the agency where Wade paid for it and they signed all the contracts together. It felt incredibly nice and Penny already had most of her stuff packed up, honestly, so it wasn't too bad when Wade came to help her take the things out to the cab they'd taken to her apartment.

 Apparently Wade was good friends with the guy driving it, so he'd been taking all of them to the different apartments the entire day. He was really nice, all sweet and boyish charm, so she didn't even mind when he called her Miss Penny-pie, since that's what Wade introduced her as. She just laughed a little and blushed, listening to Wade tell him how to get the girl (with dubious methods).

 Her stuff was loaded in 3 trips between the two of them; five boxes of books and movies, three of clothes, one of shoes, and the other of nick-knacks and other items of sentimental value. Wade left her to get unpacked while he and Dopinder went to his own old apartment. That trip took a lot longer, understandably due to the amount of weaponry he doesn't want to forget. Penny invited Dopinder in while they ordered take-out for the night, which he politely declined saying he had to go and see the girl he was trying to win over.

 She turned a blind eye as Wade explained the best way to get rid of his rival for her heart, only giving him one scolding look at the idea to dump him in the river.

 A minute after he left she picked up her phone to call for several pizzas between them and sitting on the couch with a huff.

 Wade came and sat beside her, so she turned to him, moved closer, and put her legs over his lap while curling into his side as she closed her eyes and hummed. His rough and scarred hand began stroking her hair and otherwise playing with it and it was extremely relaxing, to the point where she almost fell asleep.

 Then the doorbell rang and her eyes popped open as she remembered how hungry she was, grabbing her purse as she went to the door.

 “If those bags of guns are still there when I turn around then you're not getting your garlic bread,” she called to Wade, who groaned as he heaved himself off the couch to go and take them while she opened the door with a smile, accepting the four pizzas, garlic bread, fries, and soda she was handed with one hand for the most part, handing the guy the money from her purse with some trouble, along with a large tip, closing the door with a smile still in place.

 They worked their way through all the food, though it took nearly three hours and a break halfway through, and they were too stuffed to speak as they sat watching the second movie of the Star Trek reboots.

 It was comfortable like that, and despite being almost 1am, Penny curled up once more into Wade and closed her eyes, allowing herself to fall asleep.

 Wade looked down at the end of the movie, reaching forward to turn the TV off via the remote still on the coffee table. He didn't have enough energy to carry Penny to her bed, but he did move so he was laying down with her on his chest, still curled up to him.

 That's the way he woke up, too, except she was moving just a little too much in the process of waking up herself. She say up briefly, stretching and yawning, before flopping back down onto his chest. He laughed a little breathless at the impact and she shot up again, looking down sheepishly before realising their position and climbing off fully.

 “Up and at ‘em soldier,” she said, standing and stretching more. “We need food, so you gotta change and we'll go grocery shopping.”

 “It's like ten in the morning,” Wade complained as he sat up.

 “Exactly, and it's Sunday, I need food for tomorrow morning and later tonight et cetera since I can't live off junk food,” she shrugged before walking off to her room where most of her stuff was unpacked. She got dressed quickly, before having to wait an extra ten minutes for Wade to come out in baggy army pants and tight t-shirt with red and black hoodie thrown over the top and his usual boots.

 “Alright, let's go,” he sighs with a gesture to the door, so she smiles and grabs her purse from the side where she left it last night and walking out with a surprising skip in her step as they find the closest supermarket to get groceries to last a few days at least.

 She gets a little fruit, some meat and veg, stuff to put in sandwiches, milk, some ice cream to shut Wade up, along with too much pancake mix (in her opinion) and Nutella. It would do for now at least.  

An hour after they got back there was a knock at the door, which made the pair look at each other weirdly since neither was expecting anybody and only Dopinder knew at this moment where either lived since only moving yesterday, but Penny got up to open it and was caught off-guard in her greeting when Steve Rogers aka Captain America stood at the door.

 “Hi- Mr America- oh, uh, what can I do for you?” Penny knew he wouldn't recognise her voice from the times Spiderman had gone to the avengers because she always tried to deepen it and Penny Parker didn't know any of the avengers unless Pepper Potts counted, since she'd done an interview with her, but it was a shock to find Captain fucking America stood at the door in regular clothes.

 “Please, call me Steve,” he tells her and she nods. “It's just that last night I heard you and your roommate moving in and I wanted to say hi and introduce myself, maybe invite you both for dinner?” He was stood somewhat awkwardly, and Penny realised she's never really had a conversation with Steve Rogers, only ever Captain America, and they were two different people.

 “I don't see how that would be a problem,” she said, smiling, though thinking _this is a huge fucking problem, maybe_. Soft footsteps sounded from down the hall and Wade appeared at the end speaking, “Penny-pie who was at the- Spangles?” Wade’s eyes widened and Penny looked away with a slight hissing noise, wishing she had an easier way to ease into this than right now.

 “Wilson?” Steve startled slightly, posture going rigid as Wade came closer to the door with a sheepish smile.

 “Captain,” he answers in return, still somewhat sheepish, the air becoming awkward around them.

 “Steve, uh, sir, my roommate. Wade Wilson. Aka Deadpool,” Penny introduces needlessly, but she needed to say something.

 “Okay, well, as I said before,” he maintained with a slight smile, though it was tighter now. “You are welcome to come over for dinner, I was thinking next Friday unless something came up.”

 Penny smiled back as she answered, “If you're sure, I'm sure we can do that.” She looked at Wade briefly for confirmation and he nodded along in agreement.

 “Yeah, that sounds cool, if you're alright with that I mean?”

 “Sure, why wouldn't I be? Plus, clearly there's so much we don't know about you.” He leaves after another minute and as soon as Penny heaves a breath and leans against the door she looked at Wade with wide eyes.

 “What the hell just happened?”

 “No idea, Penny-pie. Probably best we just wait and see if it was a dream. Also, I texted Dopinder and he's agreed to give you a ride to school whenever you need it as long as you text him the time you gotta be there the night before,” he tells her and she relaxes.

 “Really?” Penny questions with a soft smile, moving to hug Wade when he nods. “Thank you,” she tells him with a light squeeze before walking to the kitchen. “May as well start dinner now,” she tells him with a sigh.

* * *

 

The week goes well, and Dopinder is surprisingly easy to talk to about anything, a lot more intelligent than he first appears as they talk theories and histories on the way to school, stuff she likes but doesn't study. When she goes to pay him, he stops her and tells that he already has an automated service with Wade to take the money and she shrugs and gives him it anyway, saying to just keep it.

 “Is there another girl you must compete with for Mr Pool’s affections?” He asks her one time, hands gripping the steering wheel tightly as he briefly recalls his own issues with that.

 “Oh no, don't worry about it,” she laughs lightly with a wave of her hand. “I just want to get settled before I even consider that. I always want us to remain friends and I don't want anything to get in the way of it. Especially since he actually bought the apartment for the both of us. He wouldn't get me to move out if we _did_ break up, he's insist against it actually, but I would feel guilty staying there if we could no longer be friends,” she explains.

 

* * *

When Friday comes around, she makes sure Wade dresses slightly more suitable than his normal clothes by switching a t-shirt for a shirt, and army pants for jeans, but let's him keep his hoodie and boots. She herself wears a slightly oversized light brown jumper with a black skirt and dolly flats to match her jumper. She ties her hair back and wears her glasses, forgetting about the pen behind her ear until she was already outside the door and tapping it against her leg as she leaned forward to knock on the door before she could back out.

 Wade rolled his eyes at her nervousness, but didn't interrupt her process.

 “Hey,” Steve answers as he opens the door, stepping back to let them in, Wade pushing her forward lightly to encourage her.

  _I am Spiderman_ she tells herself. _This is nothing. I can probably outsmart him in a fight, and I can cling to walls,_ she continues, smiling and waving a little when Bucky pops his head through the kitchen door and smiles at her in greeting.

 They talk about inconsequential things as Bucky brings the food out and she comments on how nice it tastes and Bucky tells them that Steve can't cook to save his life. She talks about her schoolwork and her photography, art appreciation being one of the things she can talk about Steve with while Wade and Bucky discuss- something that isn't art. She was too absorbed in her conversation with Steve, surprised at how easy it felt to talk to him when not worried about anything related to the avengers.

 By the time they’ve finished their meal (including dessert) it's actually quite late, so they finish their conversations at a careful pace before Penny and Wade take their leave.

* * *

She invited Aunt May the next week, who was shocked but said as long as she was happy then it was fine. There was a look in there, questioning her morality, and she's sure she went home and googled Wade, but she hasn't brought it up.

* * *

It takes three weeks for them to ask how they actually got to know each other and became friends (nothing more implied, Penny is thankful, because she still doesn't want to talk about moving it forward).

 

“I had to take some photos for work, and I was on top a roof because they were talking about a new company or business I think? Anyway, I was up there because I needed to give my boss as many options as possible. He ruined my shot by scaring the life out of me and I made sure he never did it again,” Penny recites with a shrug, knowing that was the cover story they had practiced.

 

“You weren't afraid of him?” Bucky asks suspiciously.

 

“I was more afraid of my boss not liking any of my shots since he's the one who pays me. He actually had a similar reaction, but I knew who he was it didn't really scare me.”

 

“Kinda makes sense,” he concedes, and they move on. They can all talk about different things, and Bucky likes to listen the most about when she tells him the advancements science has made, and he's good at talking about history with.

 

When asked why he didn't just ask Stark and Banner he told her that they like talking more about engineering and medicine, not space or genetics, like Penny can and does.

* * *

The next week is when Penny speaks to Wade about maybe becoming more in their relationship. They'd been growing closer than they already were, and Penny can freely admit that she loves him, something she hasn't done since Gwen.

 

She does it as they're having Mexican, Tuesday night has become the usual day they order food in because Penny thinks it's a good space on either side of Friday night when they have dinner with Steve and Bucky.

 

“Wade, you know I really like you right, like, romantically?” She wasn't expecting Wade to choke on his food and begin coughing it up everywhere. She grimaced at the sight.

 

“No?” he manages to croak out after a minute. “How was I supposed to know?”

 

“I don't know? I thought it was obvious,” she tells him, handing him his glass of water.

 

“I thought you were just naturally a cuddly person when platonically close with somebody,” he says.

 

“Not really? I mean I guess I can be but not particularly.”

 

“So I can kiss you and hug you and grab your butt and cuddle you more and I can be all cutesy with you?” he asks, mild shock setting in, much to her amusement.

 

“I mean, I thought we already did a lot of that, but sure.”

 

“Can we start after dinner?”

 

“Sure,” she answers, but continues to eat as he waits for it to sink in before continuing to eat, slower than before and with slight disbelief as he mumbles under his breath to the boxes.

 

She's not going to deny feeling smug about that.

* * *

Nothing really changes after that, they're still the same, they still get coffee three times a week and Wade complains that there's too much green stuff in their shopping bags while Penny tells him off for an extra three boxes of pancake mix they _really don't need._

 

They still spend their days doing different things and Penny still locks herself in her room for hours on end when working on papers of utmost importance before crashing in her cereal or plate of pancakes left for her the next morning. Wade still does jobs, but they're not long and always out of the city. They go out at night as always to patrol the city.

 

Except now they hold hands, and he kisses her forehead more than before, and they've slept in the same bed on a few occasions, and he'll grab her ass at random times, or she'll pull him down in public by the strings of his hoodie to kiss him just because she wants to.

 

Oh, and the making out on the couch instead of watching movies, that's good too. Definitely.

* * *

It's another week before her identity is revealed. Her and Wade are at Steve and Bucky’s for their usual dinner, and she's helped to clear up the dishes as the door bursts open unexpectedly, causing her to half jump out of her skin and stick to the nearest surface, so she ends up with her glasses clattering to the ground as she looks down at the rest of the others from the ceiling.

 They're all staring at her.

 She jumps down lightly, picking up her glasses and dusting them off, putting them on before saying, “Well, that was exciting,” with an awkward laugh and smile. Wade just closes his eyes and she can see his mouth twitching to not break into a smile or laughter.

 “Penny Parker is Spiderman,” Tony Stark announces to the room pointlessly.

 “You know who I am?” Penny asks incredulously, causing the genius to scoff.

 “Please, I'm not so ignorant to my company that I don't know who Pepper interviews for positions in my company. Plus, you're a part of my scholarship program anyway, your grades are all kept a track of by me for the reason of seeing if you're enough to work at my company.”

 “Tony we all know it's Pepper’s company at this point,” Bucky tells him with a roll of his eyes.

 “Aside from that, you take selfies for like half your paycheck!” Tony exclaims as though Bucky didn't speak. “It's so obvious! Aside from the fact that these two talk about you every so often,” he tells her, bewildered that he clearly didn't figure it out sooner.

 “Was there something you needed?” Steve asks pointedly, standing with his arms crossed and a stern look on his face.

 “Yes, actually, I needed to tell you I've got the latest sensory upgrades for Metal Man’s arm over there,” he says with a nod to Bucky. “But clearly you're all in the middle of something. Speaking of something, you,” he snaps his fingers at Penny. “You are going to come into the office tomorrow with him,” he nods towards Bucky, “and bring all your research notes on your powers,” he tells her and she nods before he walks out again with an assured nod to himself.

 Penny breathed out deeply. “Again, that was exciting,” she mutters sarcastically, causing both Bucky and Wade to snort. They continue the evening as if nothing happened.

* * *

Another month passed before Wade needed to talk to Penny.

 “Hey, so, um, remember when I told you I have a precious little angel of a daughter named Ellie and I love her very much?” he asks in a slight rush, and Penny only just catches it all as she looks up from her final essay for college.

 “Yes?”

 “Well, I was maybe, perhaps, wondering if I could bring her to visit one weekend?” Wade asks nervously.

 “Of course you can,” Penny tells him as though there wasn't a question to it, because there wasn't. “Honestly I kinda wanted to bring her up myself but wasn't sure how you'd take it,” she shrugs. “Besides, you own the place,” she waves her hand in a gesture to the apartment. “You can do whatever,” she tells him.

 “Okay, but I want you to meet her,” Wade says, slightly slow and Penny comes to a halt.

 “Are you sure? I'm really not all that good with kids,” she says.

 “Yes, I'm sure, you're my best friend even before we were in a relationship and she's my precious darling and I finally have a stable home for her to visit. She's turning seven in a few weeks and I wanted to have her over for the weekend maybe?”

 Penny stands up and walks over to him with a smile, putting her arms around his neck and standing on her tiptoes to press a chaste kiss to his lips.

 “You can invite her here, I'm sure she'll love it, and spending time with you,” Penny tells him. 

“And getting to know you,” he says, bumping his nose against hers. “She kinda already knows that you're Spidey though, just a warning.”

 “That's fine, don't worry, I'm sure she can keep the secret.”

 “She definitely can,” he nods frantically at her, causing her to laugh at the look on his face. Kissing his cheek she extracts herself from his grip to go to the kitchen and make a cup of hot chocolate for herself.

 “I see no reason for her not to be here, so bring her whenever she wants to come,” she tells him, adding after a moment's thought - “But no skipping school for more than a day or two once every few months.” Because she knows Wade would do something like that every week and it would be disruptive to her school life and social life.

* * *

So Penny meeting Ellie, for both Penny and Wade, was the most significant milestone they would ever face, and each had their own high hopes for it.

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to note I'm 16 and British, and I've never been to America, so I know nothing about New York but I googled some stuff and really hope it makes sense. Anyway hope you enjoyed this, comment and kudos if you have any constructive criticism for me or spot any flaws/can correct me on New York stuff since I have no idea what I'm talking about enjoy the rest of your day.


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